EP 18 - DÜS Tennis with Kevin Perkins: Bridging the Gap Between Sports & Streetwear

Gerard (00:13): hear this down a little bit. All right. Did Luke kind of give you just like the overview, Kev? This isn't like live or anything, so you can stop, pause.

Kevin Perkins (00:25): Okay. Okay. Okay.

Lu (00:27): Yeah, like, yeah. Yeah, we're gonna, I mean, we're gonna edit this to a certain degree. So if you have to, you know, if you have to step aside or something, whatever, like, yeah, it's not a big deal. We'll kind of chop it up. So it's not like, yeah, it's not live streaming.

Kevin Perkins (00:39): Okay.

Kevin Perkins (00:44): Okay, okay.

Gerard (00:46): Cool. And then in terms of like your intro, do you want to be just like the founder of Deuce? Is there something else you want to kind of a title to give you or anything?

Kevin Perkins (00:56): Yeah, we can yeah, we can just keep it deuce and if you guys ask any other questions I'll just answer those as as it comes. But yeah, that's perfect

Gerard (01:36): All right, cool. I will lead us in with the intro here.

Gerard (01:44): Welcome back to Spin the Racket, Atlanta's recreational tennis pod, covering everything from the pro tour to the everyday league player. I'm your boy G.

Lu (01:53): and I'm Lou.

Gerard (01:55): Today we have a special guest joining us on the pod, Kevin Perkins, founder of Deuce. He's a great tennis player in his own right. We'll get into his story, his background, and what he's up to in the community. Kev, thanks for joining us.

Kevin Perkins (02:07): Thanks for having me guys.

Gerard (02:09): Yeah, that was going to be fun. Do you go by, it just Kevin? like Kev? KP? Killer Kev? Like.

Kevin Perkins (02:14): Honestly, it's a little bit of all of those. It just depends on who you are and whatever you feel comfortable calling me. So any of those works, honestly. But I think I get Kev a lot, probably the most.

Gerard (02:19): There.

Kevin Perkins (02:29): Yeah

Lu (02:40): Dun dun dun.

Kevin Perkins (02:40): Man I'd rather have no forehand I gotta get the point started. I gotta get the point started and I can backhand chip all day so So no forehand for sure

Gerard (02:45): OK, OK.

Gerard (02:51): I'm

Gerard (02:56): I love that. I love that. Is that what I picked, right, Luke? Or did you pick that one?

Lu (03:00): Nah, yeah, you're on, you're on G's team right now. I think, I think this, you know, at some point we were probably 50-50, but we definitely over the past couple of episodes, we've gotten at least, I think it's, it's, it's leaning heavily now towards the no forehand crew. But, you know, yeah, I mean, each side makes a good point, right? You, you said it yourself. I want to get the point started. For me, it's like my argument for having

Gerard (03:19): Yeah.

Lu (03:30): Forehand is I want to get the point finished so

Gerard (03:34): Yeah, exactly. know we had Marcus on the pod. just for our listeners, that's how we met. Kevin was through Marcus, Gilliam, and NetGainz Tennis. had this awesome event, the kickoff ATL rally back in December, or ATL kickoff rally, rather. And yeah, we asked Marcus the same question. I think he went back and forth three different times. He was trying to psych himself out. like, yeah, no forehand. But actually, probably no serve. It was just like, he never really answered it.

Kevin Perkins (03:55): Yeah

Lu (03:59): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (04:00): Yeah

Gerard (04:05): But yeah, no, we're happy to have you on the pod here. obviously, we want to get to know you a bit, share some with our listeners about your story. So take us back to the beginning. How did you first get into tennis?

Lu (04:05): It's true.

Kevin Perkins (04:16): Honestly, dad, I think he started playing like around eight or nine. When I was born in the Philippines and then moved to the States, to Athens, where my dad is from. And then he kind of put the racket in my hand. I remember kind of going over to the university courts and he took me to the wall and kind of just fell in love with, I guess, just the ball always coming back, you know, the wall.

Gerard (04:44): Yep, always.

Lu (04:45): Yeah.

Gerard (04:49): Yep.

Gerard (05:11): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (05:12): I kind of like the responsibility that came with that with tennis. So that's why I ended up kind of leaning more towards that.

Gerard (05:19): Mm-hmm. Like, what age was that where you kind of just fully locked in on tennis?

Kevin Perkins (05:24): I would say probably like my freshman year of high school, but I played basketball all throughout. Yeah, I played basketball throughout and I said I played all the sports too, played baseball too. But tennis, I kind of was like, okay, you know, not trying to really get hit like that in football. So anymore, you know, protect myself a little bit. So was like, okay, let's go, you know, more the safer route, I guess, if you will.

Gerard (05:30): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (05:45): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (05:54): and then kind of locked in on tennis.

Gerard (05:57): That's cool. Yeah, Lou and I were talking about that yesterday. He played basketball a little bit. He was telling me because he has the height, you know.

Kevin Perkins (06:04): Yeah.

Lu (06:06): Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You want to unwrap that again? Uh, yeah. A lot of people look at me and they're like, yeah, you know, you must be good at basketball or whatever. got it. Like my, grew like a foot in middle school and then, uh, all of a sudden I went from being like average high to being like the tall guy and in the group or whatever. And everyone, mean, it's like back home. It's like that. Like everyone looks at you and you're like here in the States, I'm a little bit above average, you know, I'm six, three, but

Gerard (06:11): you

Gerard (06:16): Must be.

Kevin Perkins (06:25): Yeah.

Lu (06:35): back home in Venezuela, it's like you're tall. You're significantly taller than everyone. And so everyone's like, you must be good at basketball. And it's like, dude, that's not the only sport that tall people play. Look at the average height for swimmers or goalkeepers or tennis players or volleyball players. The average is pretty high. anyways, going back into you playing competitively, because I'm curious about that.

Kevin Perkins (06:45): Hahaha

Gerard (06:58): Mm-hmm.

Lu (07:05): What age did you start locking in playing competitively and what did that look like? What did you play in college? I think when we met, you mentioned something about praying professionally. So walk us through that a little bit.

Kevin Perkins (07:20): Yeah, so like I said, played all throughout high school and then played in college. I was able to get a scholarship. My freshman year I played at Alabama State. I was able to play with my best friend there who was a year older than me. And we did really well, like freshman season, got conference freshman of the year. And then, yeah, just, you know, had a good time. That was my best friend. Like, you know, we played juniors together and stuff like that. So.

Gerard (07:46): That's cool.

Gerard (07:57): Yeah.

Gerard (08:04): That's awesome. What was Alabama State like? Like I haven't come across many people from there.

Kevin Perkins (08:10): Yeah, yeah, it was cool for me. It was my first experience being HBCU. So my little background, my mom is, she's Filipino and my dad is black. But for high school, went to predominantly white school. Not a whole lot of ethnicities and stuff where I grew up. So going there in a sense at first was a little bit of a culture shock for me. Obviously like,

Gerard (08:17): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (08:30): Hmm.

Gerard (08:34): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (08:39): Right.

Kevin Perkins (08:40): other than being around my dad's side of the family and everything. But it was a dope experience, so I'm not gonna lie. And having Josh there definitely helped me to kind of just show me the ropes, and I had good teammates as well. And yeah, we had a good time, and honestly, being able to travel, playing other schools in the SWAC was really dope. Yeah, and honestly, yeah, it was just a good experience.

Gerard (08:47): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (08:52): Yeah.

Gerard (08:59): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (09:03): Yeah, that's really cool. always like every time I watch college tennis, I'm like, man, I wish I could have played in college. That's like a really cool experience. I did club, but wasn't like, you know, varsity level. But it seemed just like a great time to, you know, kind of build up that competition and get some camaraderie, like really get to know good friends and get teammates. So, yeah, I feel like that's a great valuable experience.

Kevin Perkins (09:24): Yeah, yeah. And then I know you had mentioned, you know, kind of playing at the next level after college and, you know, was playing some, you know, tournaments and stuff afterwards, try to get in some ITFs. But, you know, as you guys know, you know, just because you're playing all those, it's not always glamorous, right? You know, like not everyone is in that, you know, top 100 and, you know, there's definitely tiers and levels to, you know, playing professional tennis. And, you know, you kind of quickly realize like, hey,

Gerard (09:42): Hmm

Kevin Perkins (09:53): this is probably not going to be really feasible, you know, for a career, for not, you know, getting, you know, wild card entries or, you know, really breaking through. So, you know, kind of went more the coaching route afterwards and then kind of found my footing in there, you know, coaching juniors and stuff. And then got into college coaching for a few years. Was able to kind of go on staff at North Georgia at first. Learned a lot there from Coach Kent. And then from there was able to be a grad assistant in Texas.

Gerard (10:01): Yeah.

Gerard (10:11): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (10:22): and then ended up being a head coach at a D2 in San Francisco.

Gerard (10:28): Interesting. Yeah. What was kind of like the, I guess, toughest challenge or trying to like play on the tour? Like, what did you kind of think about as you were trying to enter that next stage?

Lu (10:29): That's cool, dude.

Kevin Perkins (10:41): yeah, think honestly just, you know, you're seeing the same people, you know, every, every weekend, every other weekend, but it just, the expenses, you know, they, they add up quick, you know, like I said, if you're not able to even get in a tournament, you could be an onsite alternate, you know, or whatever, but it's like, do you take the risk of going on site and hoping that someone, you know, like withdraws and then you're able to get into the tournament or, you know, do you miss that opportunity altogether? But then you could still end up going.

Gerard (10:50): Yeah.

Gerard (11:00): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (11:11): and then you not get in at all. And it's like, like I said, at that stage when you're not making that type of money, it's not like you have a plethora of endorsements coming in. You're just lucky if someone's like, hey, here's a free string of, like a free reel of string. You're like, oh man, all right, anything to cut the expenses down, right? So you kind of quickly realize, okay, if I can't crack it here or whatever, then how can I still be around the game?

Gerard (11:13): Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (11:28): Right, yeah.

Kevin Perkins (11:38): And I think that's kind of what led me to going down the coaching route.

Gerard (11:42): Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can imagine.

Lu (11:43): Any memorable matches or tournaments that you can pull back from memory lane?

Kevin Perkins (11:51): yeah, honestly, there was, can't exactly remember where, it was on clay. And it's funny that when you asked the first question, like, would you rather have no forehand or no backhand? And cause it happened. I literally had no forehand at the time. Like I was running around my, was, yes, I was running around my forehand to hit a backhand, which is absolutely insane. Like if you've played tennis, like, you know, that is an insane thing to do, but it.

Gerard (12:07): Really?

Gerard (12:18): Yeah

Kevin Perkins (12:19): I don't know what was happening at the time, but my forehand was either going straight to the bottom of the net or was sailing straight to the fence. No in between. No in between. And I like, man, and I remember like just having like my friends try to help me. I like just hand feed, whatever. And it just was like, and I would slow up my swing. Nothing would happen. So I remember literally running around forehands. You know, normally you hit inside out forehands, right? Inside out, you know, backhand, whatever.

Lu (12:26): brother, know that feeling all too well.

Gerard (12:27): Mm-hmm.

Lu (12:36): Nah,

Gerard (12:41): Cheers.

Gerard (12:48): Right.

Kevin Perkins (12:49): but it was all backhands, know, so backhand chip or getting around to, you know, to crank a backhand on the do side is absolutely crazy thing to see. But I was able to pull out the match because it was all just chip and I would try to work my way to the net. So I know my opponent was probably super pissed that that happened, but I, you know, that lasted maybe for like, I don't know, man, like two weeks, but obviously when you're playing in match mode, you know, you got to like, all right, well this is,

Gerard (12:57): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (13:18): This is all I have with me today to battle, we're have to make it work.

Gerard (13:20): Yeah.

Lu (13:20): Yeah.

Gerard (13:24): Yeah, I can relate with that so much. Just like as like a rec player, like obviously, like, you know, you go out, you feel good, you feel you have the shots. But some some days like your first service is not there or like some days you can't hit your backhand, whatever it is. You're like, well, we'll make it work with what we got.

Lu (13:24): That's crazy.

Kevin Perkins (13:39): Yeah, it was weird. It was literally like, I don't know if you guys have seen Space Jam, but it was literally like a Space Jam moment. I'm like, yo, who took my forehand? Like it is literally not there. It's to the fence or to the bottom of the net. was crazy, man. Like, I don't even know how to explain it. It was wild.

Gerard (13:43): Yes.

Gerard (13:50): Yeah

Lu (13:56): I have a pretty memorable match just like that dude where like I could not return anything on the forehand side. didn't matter what I tried to do. I tried to slice chip drive. Nothing happened. And it's a pretty memorable moment because, this was playing AA Alta here in Atlanta. And I played with our line one guy and it was just so bad altogether. Like it was a very frustrating three hours summer.

Kevin Perkins (14:15): I'm

Kevin Perkins (14:20): was just so bad, all together. It was a very frustrating three hours of... I can understand that think most players listening to it could probably have a lot of as you perform. The great thing about tennis is that you can't expect it to be complicated.

Gerard (14:22): Ugh.

Lu (14:25): It was summer fall. It was pretty hot, but I can understand that. think most players listening right now could probably, you know, relate in some shape or form how it's crazy how tennis is not like you cannot expect. I think a lot of people think that you can like work whatever you played with yesterday cannot. It won't. There's no guarantee that you're going to come back today and play with the same shots, right? Like it might be a whole different bag of shots and you're going to have to manage that.

Gerard (14:28): Cheers.

Gerard (14:50): Mm-hmm.

Lu (14:55): I was just watching a match with, I don't know if you know, Carousell, Carousell, HQ, whatever. And he's playing a number 224 in the world. Currently trying to make it to the top 100, which is apparently like the biggest cliff you can climb, right? in tennis and the guy goes, yeah, one of the things that a lot of people do in tennis is like, they played really well the first like couple of games or whatever. And then they think they need to keep climbing.

Kevin Perkins (14:57): imagine being 45 yourself. Oh yeah yeah yeah.

Kevin Perkins (15:11): the base completely. The guy goes, one of the things that I've been doing since I've really well, is first thing I've done is the second thing I've done is the third thing I've done. And it just kind of...

Lu (15:26): And it just kind of flops, right? Because like, yeah, because like your shots may not be there. You're not going to be able to play better than what you played at the beginning. So very relatable, very relatable. Crazy stuff, So.

Kevin Perkins (15:32): it's like matter they could claim to be hidden so, thank you, am very glad.

Gerard (15:42): Yeah. And what's your playing style, remind me? Because I feel like you have a one-hander, too. Like, want me back it?

Kevin Perkins (15:43): So you me a little an example of what you do there.

Lu (15:46): Yeah.

Gerard (15:56): Mm.

Gerard (16:07): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (16:11): Yeah. True. Yeah.

Lu (16:12): Mmm.

Kevin Perkins (16:13): you know, just bang from the baseline. But I've always kind of relied on, even like when I serve, I typically serve in volley, just like to be able to get up to the, I feel comfortable up there. I feel like I was always pretty good in doubles too. So I think in my singles game, that's always kind of helped me just being able to kind of be getting towards the net.

Gerard (16:19): Mm.

Gerard (16:26): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (16:32): Yeah, yeah. Did you model your game off of a certain pro or anybody like that?

Kevin Perkins (16:38): A little bit of everyone. mean, obviously I'd like to think it would be like Federer, right? But that's, you know, I think we all do aesthetically, right? You know, to be honest. But I think I've always, I mean, obviously, like, who doesn't like how Roger's game looks? You know what I mean? I mean, I would say, honestly, I think that's why I switched to the one hander as a freshman in high school. Which at the time, it's like, man, that absolutely sucked. Like.

Gerard (16:41): Yeah.

Lu (16:43): Yeah

Gerard (16:52): Right.

Gerard (16:59): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (17:04): I had a two-hander my whole life, you and it was a solid two-hander and just watching it, I'm like, damn, like that looks so smooth. Let me just try it. And then spent all summer doing it. Obviously, you know, you have the, you know, the nerves when you, you know, you can do it in practice, but then when you play your first tournament, you're like, man, my parents paid money for this. And like, I'm shanking balls out here. Like I'm scared to hit the one-hander, you know? But I think I would say him. And then obviously I always loved the intensity, you know, of Rafa and, even like

Gerard (17:06): Yeah.

Lu (17:07): That's crazy.

Gerard (17:23): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (17:34): before that, like watching like, like Pat Rafter, you know, so for the volleys, but then also like, you know, Agassi, Sam Purs and that era too.

Gerard (17:39): Mm-hmm. Yep.

Gerard (17:44): Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Lu (17:46): That's a that's a ballsy move, dude. lot of courage there. Yeah, like that that that late in your let's say tennis development, right? Like I did the opposite. I started with a one hander because I thought Roger was goaded. And then at some point I was like, my coach is like, do you do you want to win matches or do you want to try to look good? And it's like so I had to do the opposite. I had to develop a two hander kind of around the same age. I think I was like 13 or so. But

Kevin Perkins (17:48): It

Kevin Perkins (18:08): I you.

Lu (18:15): It's tough, right? Everyone wants to have that one hander, but then you start looking at the numbers, it's like, dang, dude. I wanted it. had to kind of along the same line of what you asked, G, like if you had to pick a top player in 2026, who would have the closest game style to your game style?

Kevin Perkins (18:28): you had to pick the top player in 2026, who would have the closest gank style to you in your against?

Lu (18:42): man, I hit it. Okay, cool. I was thinking Mazzetti too.

Kevin Perkins (18:45): Probably Muzetti just because, I mean, not only just because of the one-hander, but his playing style as well. Like, yeah, I wouldn't say he's like really gonna blow you away from the baseline, but you know, he gets pretty much all shots. And that was something for me. I covered the court really well. Like not a whole lot really got past me. You know, so kind of more that type of player, but not straight like defensive either. So that's probably, I would say the closest comp.

Gerard (18:55): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (19:07): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (19:11): Yeah. Yeah, it seems like the one-hander is starting to disappear a little bit though.

Kevin Perkins (19:14): It is man, it's good to see him have it and being a top five right now though. But yeah, it definitely is not as many in the game for sure.

Gerard (19:18): Yeah.

Gerard (19:23): Yeah. Yeah. How much tennis are you playing these days? Like, what's that like for you?

Lu (19:24): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (19:28): Maybe like two, three times a week. So I'll coach a couple of days throughout the week. And thankfully, like most of my lessons, they are all able to hit. I have a lot of kids that are in high school too. They were trying to make the high school team or trying to play college. So I feel like for me, those are always just like easy, like sparring sessions as well for me. It's like they obviously get to help them grow and work on their game, but also for me keeps me kind of like sharp, being able to hit balls back too.

Gerard (19:48): Yeah.

Gerard (19:56): Yeah, everyone wants to beat the coach. So like, got to be on your toes.

Kevin Perkins (19:58): For sure.

Gerard (20:04): That's very awesome. And do you travel to matches that they have competitions, things like that?

Kevin Perkins (20:11): I used to not as much anymore these days so everything is kind more just on the local side of things as far as like you know the players that I coach but yeah.

Gerard (20:17): Mm-hmm.

Lu (20:24): Now shifting a little bit, do you still get the competitive itch now, you know, every, every once in a while, or is it just kind of just coaching and maybe just enjoying and staying fit now?

Kevin Perkins (20:36): I definitely enjoyed coaching for sure. I I learned a lot when I was coaching in college. But then also, once you're a player, you're always a player too, right? So being able to compete when I can is always fun. I did play Alta last season. I we were a double A team. We won a city championship, which was great.

Gerard (21:04): nice.

Kevin Perkins (21:05): So that was nice to be able to kind of fill that competitive edge. And you guys know how it is, like Alta, no matter what the level is, everyone's gonna be competitive. It's a big deal in Atlanta, so it's nice that we have that around here.

Gerard (21:08): Yeah, there you go.

Gerard (21:14): Yeah.

Gerard (21:19): Yeah, I think I see that dinner plate up there behind you in the screen. OK, you're stacked. Yeah, got a full set. I know got like some dinner plates and I got the little salad plates. like, we'll hide those away somewhere. I don't need those.

Kevin Perkins (21:21): Yeah, we got one up there and then we got another one right here somewhere.

Kevin Perkins (21:40): man.

Lu (21:42): All right. So shifting gears, let's get really to the meat and potatoes of this episode. Let's talk about the birth of Deuce Tennis. What inspired you to start a tennis clothing brand?

Kevin Perkins (21:53): All right.

Kevin Perkins (21:58): Oh, yeah, man. For me, honestly, I think just, you know, obviously the sport being so ingrained in my life, but then also just seeing, you know, where like, I guess my closet, right? Like I'm big in the streetwear as well. I'm a bit of a sneaker head too. And, you know, I've seen the collabs, obviously, with like Kith and with Wilson and the capsules that they have. And I think they've released like two or three. But I'm like, I look in my closet and I'm like, man, like I, you know,

Gerard (22:45): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (22:56): that type of, yeah, it's not hype. Not that I'm like a crazy hype beast or anything, but I'm just like, I want more of maybe like a looser teeth, you know what I'm saying? Rather than wearing like a smidium, you know? you know, and I'm like, okay, you know what saying? Something that kind of hangs off the shoulders a little bit nicer, know, that kind of thing. And I was just kind of playing around with like, huh, okay.

Lu (22:57): not hype.

Gerard (23:05): Yeah, right, Yeah.

Lu (23:06): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gerard (23:18): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (23:22): I don't think there is like a legit like tennis street wear brand, not to my knowledge, you know, when I was doing research and stuff. And obviously like there's plenty of other tennis apparel brands, you know, for on court, but I really wanted to kind of tap in and focus a little bit more just like off court lifestyle. Essentially like if you wear it on court, like it's totally fine obviously, but you could also wear it like in the streets and it'd be totally okay too. And was also kind of just thinking about names, you know, I'm like, man, like.

Gerard (23:53): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (24:06): Yeah, yep.

Gerard (24:17): Hmm. Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (24:18): And then kind of just visualizing it to I'm like, okay, it's just you know going DUS with the you know, the OOBLONS over the U I was like that's perfect. Like it looks good I can put the I can put the tennis ball as the OOBLONS over the U, you know So that plays well and then ultimately to just deuce right the way I viewed it So kind of you know going in depth on the name You know deuce obviously is you know, it's even right? It's 40-40 so for me the way I kind of viewed it is like in life, you know, we're always trying to

Gerard (24:28): Magical.

Gerard (24:31): Yeah.

Gerard (24:44): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (24:48): you know, get to a platform where we can either go up and, you know, we can gain the advantage, right? So that's kind of why I wanted to do a deuce, but also like if it doesn't, you know, happen and we add advantage, if we can go back to deuce, that's life, right? It's ups and downs, but we're always trying to gain the advantage if we can. But if we can't, it's okay. It's not the end of the world. There's always a chance to reset and get it back, you know.

Gerard (24:51): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (25:11): Mm-hmm. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean, I love the name. Like, spelling, like you said, like, the branding of it. I think it's all brilliant. And I have a hat. I know Lou has a shirt. Like, it's good material. I love this stuff.

Lu (25:13): Reach.

Kevin Perkins (25:15): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (25:22): Let's go I Appreciate that video man. I liked it No, man, I seen the tag the notification on on IG's I mean, what is this and I clicked I say yeah, this is This is no way. This is crazy

Lu (25:23): I'm wearing this shirt right now.

Gerard (25:48): You

Lu (25:49): This is what happens when I have an idea and a little bit of time like I just I just see it through, you know.

Kevin Perkins (25:54): man.

Lu (25:56): So yeah, just, you know, I need more time for these ideas to realize these ideas, but.

Kevin Perkins (26:00): People are tired from these ideas to realize these ideas.

Gerard (26:03): Yeah, yes, just bake them in a bit. But yeah, I mean, so with the brand, where do you see it going? Is it something that you've kind of started locally? Have you kind of expanded more in the US? What's happening with it?

Kevin Perkins (26:08): where do you see it going? It's something that you kind of started building and expanding. Yeah, it's definitely more on the local side, but I mean, obviously I have a lot of support from people just within the tennis community that don't live in Georgia as well. And I think that's the beautiful part about our game, right? Our sport is that it's such a global sport. I think

Gerard (26:25): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (26:32): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (26:34): So far, it's just me on the, it's just a team of one, essentially. So I have plenty of ideas, plenty of things ready to go. I have a whole row of hats. I kind of just always, when I can get around to it, that's kind of when we're like, okay, let's put this out. So there's plenty more stuff to put out there. But I think so far, I think it's doing exactly what I want it to do.

Gerard (26:38): Right, right, okay, okay.

Gerard (26:46): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (27:01): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (27:02): impacting the tennis community. So people there will see it and they know it. But also in the spaces I'm in with streetwear and sneakers and stuff, there's people that are buying the hats just because they like it. As well as we have a tracksuit that's out and people just wearing the tracksuits with their sneakers too. it's been, I think so far it's doing what it's supposed to do and everything's just been on social media.

Gerard (27:19): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (27:29): Doing the event with net gains was really dope because that was our first like live in-person event. So I thought that was really cool just to be tangible in that space, know, obviously like, you you grabbed a shirt and everything, you know, so like that was, you know, that was perfect just to see it there. And I think just to keep growing it, I know, I think it was a Madison Ace Sports Coach Jamelle out in Dallas has invited like me and Deuce to come out.

Gerard (27:34): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (27:43): Yep, yep.

Gerard (27:54): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (27:58): sometime in the spring. So I think that's another opportunity there. And then talking with Marcus, think Deuce will probably be back out again for the spring kickoff at some point.

Gerard (27:58): cool. Nice.

Gerard (28:10): That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like tennis definitely has a need for more brands like this. And I don't know, just being able to have something that represents the sport, represents the community. I feel like a lot of things that you do, too. And I don't know we'll get into more of what you do, but it always has kind of this theme of bringing people together and connections to the sport and fitness, which I think is really cool.

Kevin Perkins (28:35): yeah.

Lu (28:39): So yeah, I feel like I came up with like three questions at the same time and I just hit pause for a moment. I agree with what with what G said. It's I think it's a good blend between there's kind of two personas that I'm thinking about, right? They could go for the deuce brand. It's obviously players.

Gerard (28:39): Lululele, look at your mid-thought.

Kevin Perkins (28:41): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (28:45): Yes.

Gerard (28:45): You

Kevin Perkins (28:47): You

Kevin Perkins (28:58): Kinda keep her son in.

Lu (29:05): Like for me as a tennis player, it'd be really cool. Like I'd know like if I go to the gym and I see someone with specific shoes, right? Like if you see like the, a six resolutions or the quarter fabs or whatever, like, know, that person plays tennis. It's kind of like the, it's kind of like the, know, you not, you're not dumb or you see them at the store and it's like, Oh yeah, this person plays tennis, right? It's like,

Kevin Perkins (29:33): You know, right? You can spot them by the shears. But it's also good, like now with Deuce, like, out on the streets, like, you can kind of identifier to like, yeah, you know, know Deuce. That means you're either like, into street wear, or you play tennis. can be like an of like, folks, you know, it kind of brings in that community aspect. But,

Lu (30:01): I think, again, I'm hoping for the growth of the brand so that it can be one of the, I hope to have one of those moments when I go to the store and I see somebody with a deuce hat or something and I'm like, all right, all right, I see you, I see you, yeah, I see you.

Kevin Perkins (30:02): I think, again, I'm hoping for the growth of the brand so that it can be one of those, I hope to have one of those moments when I go to the store and I see somebody with a new hat or something, I'm like, all right. All right, they know ball.

Gerard (30:15): Like point to them like little Spider-Man meme like

Lu (30:23): just dab me up bro. So obviously I know that G and myself have kind of been you know foreshadowing this we you're very involved with with the community. You have a rum club and that was like one of the biggest surprises I know that when we first met at the net games tennis event like I was asking you like hey you know.

Kevin Perkins (30:31): She and myself have kind of been shadowing this. You're very involved in the community. You have a front foot.

Lu (30:49): How'd you get into this whole thing? And you were like, yeah, you know, I'm sponsored for tennis and running. And I was like, how's that? And you're like, I have a run club. So how did that start?

Kevin Perkins (31:11): my endurance and stuff like that, but then also kind of just grew to somehow like running, which is crazy, because if you would have told me that in high school, I would have been like, nah, man, I'm good. Like most running I would do would be like, know, sprints on the basketball court or, you know, suicides on the tennis court, that kind of thing, maybe a mile here and there. you know, to have ran the amount that I've ran, I think in the last couple of years, if you would have told me that, I'd been like, yeah, that's crazy.

Gerard (31:36): Yeah

Kevin Perkins (31:38): But yeah, I've just like consistently just ran. Like even when I was coaching in college, even when I remember I coached the women's team in California and before we would start like our practice on court, I would like get the team to do a team run and it would just be like maybe one or two miles. And I think they absolutely hated it at first. But they would also see like, oh damn, like coach is actually like running also. He's not just.

Gerard (32:02): you

Kevin Perkins (32:07): saying, hey, go run two miles, but he's leading us and running with us. So I think that just carried over when I moved back to Georgia. Obviously, I kept running. And then just had some friends that wanted to say, hey, can I run with you? And typically, before, I normally just run by myself. So then being in that space, learning how to run with other people just kept growing and growing.

Gerard (32:26): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (32:35): And then in August of 2024, we started, you know, Peachtate Running Club. And we had our first run over at Westside Park. And now, you know, we've moved out to Duluth and we have a great community out here. We for our group runs, we typically meet on Wednesdays and we have anywhere between 50 to 80 people consistently. More on the higher side when the weather is warmer, obviously.

Gerard (33:00): Wow.

Gerard (33:03): Of course.

Kevin Perkins (33:04): But then we also do track Mondays and everything and you know it's really dope because like a lot of people from that community Came out to the net games event and they'd never really played tennis like that So for me it was really dope too because like I've only known them from running so to see them come into You know my world my other world and you know of tennis, you know It was really dope to see a lot of people just you know trying something new, know, I mean and in a day I think that's that's what it's all about is just

Lu (33:05): Yeah.

Gerard (33:13): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (33:23): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (33:31): you know, seeing the sport and the spaces that you love, like seeing people that you appreciate in those spaces, just trying something new, you know.

Gerard (33:38): Yeah, that's

Lu (33:39): Yeah, go ahead,

Gerard (33:42): Oh, no, I was just going say that's cool. I feel like for me, I'm not necessarily a runner, quote unquote. I've always been like, I'm running because I'm forced to run. It's just like, hey, you need to run some laps for this. maybe I'm running from something. I don't know. But I'm not going out just for pleasure run. But I feel like having that community aspect to it would get me to go out. If I know I have three friends that are going to be there because they're there every Wednesday for one club, that sounds fun to me.

Kevin Perkins (34:06): Mm-hmm, absolutely.

Lu (34:08): I think that's the thing about hard things, right? It's when you do them together, it makes it a little bit better. It could be running, could be tennis, it could be many things, many difficult, it could be a drill in the military, right? But there's that companionship, that camaraderie, it makes it a little bit easier. Tying it back to you running with your team, you were coaching, again, that creates a kind of a...

Kevin Perkins (34:16): It could be running, could be set as

Kevin Perkins (34:25): Thanks, you too,

Lu (34:37): psychological, you know, kind of removes a psychological barrier that like you're the coach and, know, we're the team and, and you're really just putting yourself in the fire with them. Um, I have been ruined by, um, as a junior, I had a maniacal coach that would make us run a 10 K every day before practice. I thought that went on for like about a year, dude. was in the best shape of my life as like a 12 year old, but like,

Kevin Perkins (34:58): man.

Gerard (34:58): Mm-mm.

Lu (35:07): I don't know, dude. Like I, I dislike running in general, but I also realized later on in life is cause I only had one speed and it was like running as fast as you can, like zone four running. So, I, I I, I got to give credit to one of my buddies, Eric, who got me into like five Ks. He just one time invited me and I was like, you know what? I'll do it. And now I try to do like a five K every year just to see where my pace is. And if I'm like,

Kevin Perkins (35:13): later on in life, so I only had one speed and it's like running as fast as you can.

Lu (35:36): you know, either in better shape or worse shape than I was last year. But it's to your point is that like community team, like when I see other people running, I already signed up for this. It's like, I'm going to run, you know, there's no more, like there's a commitment to it because we're all doing it together. So, it's, it's cool. Now I'm curious, how did this whole idea, by the way, happy birthday, right? You just turned 20, 34.

Kevin Perkins (35:49): I'm going to run, you know, there's no more like there's a commitment to it because we're all doing it together. So it's cool. Now I'm curious, I had this whole idea, by the way, happy birthday, right? You just turned 34. Yeah, yeah, a couple of weeks ago. Thank you. Tell us a little bit more about that for those of you that are listening.

Lu (36:07): So I saw, yes, I saw your post on that. Tell us a little bit more about that for those of you that are listening or watching and don't know about this. So Kevin, I saw your post. It was something about you turning 34 and then you had people run 3.4 miles in the cold for you. How did that idea come about?

Kevin Perkins (36:16): Watching you don't know about this Kevin. I saw your post. It was something about Yeah, so I was So raising like money for a foundation the cow peas foundation be running the the public's half marathon in a couple in March Yeah, March 1st. So a month from now And I was like, okay

Gerard (37:05): Nice.

Gerard (37:11): Wow.

Kevin Perkins (37:13): So we did that a couple of weeks ago in the morning and yeah, lot of people, like maybe 20 something, almost 30 people came out for a run and obviously for a good cause, but also just seeing that I'm like, wow, I really appreciate the community we have. And I know you mentioned the camaraderie. I think that's a beautiful thing that what I've learned about the running community can bring that we also have in tennis too, right? Because in tennis, you always have your person, like, hey man, like.

Gerard (37:20): Wow.

Kevin Perkins (37:42): let's go for a hit. You know who that person, like when I said that you already know who came to mind. You know, like you have that one person, you have that person that you can, you know, that you can always hit with. And I feel like I've kind of found the same in the running community. If I'm like, Hey, you know, going to go for a run is anyone down? Actually after this, like I'm running with a few people from the, with the run club. I was like, Hey, I got to do a podcast. And then after this, we're I'm going for a run. So

Gerard (38:05): Cheers.

Kevin Perkins (38:12): Yeah

Lu (38:14): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (38:22): Ha ha.

Kevin Perkins (38:26): Yeah.

Lu (38:31): That's good. Why not? I like I like the I like that you said a lot of people in the club are crazy like me. I'm like, all right. Yeah, screw screw. Yeah, screw the.

Kevin Perkins (38:33): Yeah

Gerard (38:38): You

Kevin Perkins (38:39): Yeah, that's when I knew we had a good group is when I seen like, damn man, it's like Wednesday, it's dark, it's cold. You don't have to be here. Like no one is making you come to group run or come to the track, no less. And people come out there and I'm like, all right, people wanna put work in and I can only respect that.

Gerard (38:47): Yeah.

Gerard (38:54): Yeah.

Gerard (39:00): Yeah, the same question with the

Lu (39:01): Yeah, yeah, you got you got the crazy guy that just like sense David Goggins picture.

Kevin Perkins (39:05): For sure.

Gerard (39:09): Literally. Yeah, the same question kind of with the Run Club as the brand. Where do you see it going? Do you collab with other Run Clubs? How does that all work?

Lu (39:09): Kevin Perkins (39:20.473) Yeah, yeah, good question. We've definitely done some joint runs with other clubs. And I think it's something that we continue to do. think that's, you know, the running community in Atlanta is, you know, such a beautiful, it's a beautiful scene. Like, even though I'm not new to running, you know, as far as being like a, you know, founder and leader of the club, I think it's, you know, really cool to tap into, you know, other areas, you know, in Atlanta, Metro Atlanta.

Gerard (39:49): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (39:49): to see where running is represented well there and just even meeting some of those leaders from their group and kind of picking their brain on what they got going on and stuff like that is definitely cool. I mean, I think we'll continue to keep it going. We've been almost one year here in a couple of weeks, one year of running at Goodwood Brewing in downtown Duluth for our Wednesday group run.

Gerard (40:30): Yeah. For sure.

Lu (40:31): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (40:46): There's 10, 11 other people that can know how to lead the group runs and stuff. So it's really awesome, really nice to have a good team of people to kind of help literally run that.

Gerard (41:02): That's awesome. And I think we saw that you were named an Atlanta track club ambassador recently as well. What is that? And what's that involvement going be like?

Kevin Perkins (41:12): Yeah, so yeah, that was an honor to be able to be named a Atlanta Track Club Ambassador. And it's really just being able to keep promoting, you know, kind of any Atlanta Track Club races that we might have throughout the year, which, you know, if you guys ever ran a race, like a lot of the races are, you know, ran by Atlanta Track Club. So like Peachtree Road Race, that's our, you know, probably our big one, our flagship. And it's just to keep promoting, you know, the

Gerard (41:33): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (41:41): the running community and make sure that everyone feels like they're seen and that they have a space to be a part of, whether you're new to it or you've been doing it for a long time, that you're more than welcome to always to come out for a run or to go for a race or something like that.

Gerard (41:47): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (42:02): Yeah. It's crazy. The Atlanta Track Club is like a machine. mean, obviously, the P.C. Road Race is just like spectacularly done. But even if you have a foundation and you want them to be the group that plans. So, for example, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation, we had a firefighter 5K back in September. And the Atlanta Track Club was basically like the organizers and planned it all. And it was just...

Kevin Perkins (42:18): Okay.

Gerard (42:24): Perfectly done. We didn't have to like lift a finger. It was was just amazing So so yeah, that's cool that you're involved with that and able to continue to kind of talk more about running and get more people connected

Kevin Perkins (42:35): Yeah, no, it's definitely, like you said, it's a well-oiled machine. They do such a good job of the volunteers that come out, but even just law enforcement being able to shut down the streets and just, everyone always feels safe at these events and you can kind of just be able to run freely. So it's real nice.

Gerard (42:45): Hmm.

Gerard (42:52): Yeah.

Gerard (42:56): cool. I'm actually a member of the Atlanta Track Club as well. you know, I'm not a runner yet. I'm almost there. You know, almost there. I do the big events every once in a while. We got to run a 5k, We got to do one.

Lu (43:09): Yeah, we're to do a 5k this year. Maybe, know, Kev, if you can talk us into one. I never say no. I'm not going to be the guy to be like, Hey dude, let's sign up for this. I've done that before. Don't get me wrong. But then I got too many nos. but if you, if you ever tell me, Hey, let's run a 5k, whatever. I'm even maybe open to a 10 K if, if the stakes are high enough. yeah, let's, there you go.

Kevin Perkins (43:14): Hey man, yeah, well, alright.

Gerard (43:30): Cheers!

Kevin Perkins (43:32): Hey man, alright, alright, I'll find one to put on the calendar for all three of us.

Gerard (43:38): There we go. There we go.

Kevin Perkins (43:38): Yeah

Lu (43:39): Yeah, we'll make it a thing, you know? I was doing the Chick-fil-A one, the Chick-fil-A 5K up in Canton and whatever. But then I think it was last year, I didn't get anybody to go with me. That's what it was, I'm pretty sure G was, G, you had an event that day, I think, with Matabolic. So we can do that one.

Kevin Perkins (43:42): I was doing the Chick-fil-A one, the Chick-fil-A 5K or something like that, I can't say that whatever. But then they gave us like last year and I can't remember the game completely.

Kevin Perkins (43:56): made sure like, gee, you had an event that day, think with like, MetaPollix and uh, who came to that one. yeah, so that was, that was a good thing to see. There's also, by the way, there's also this thing called the Savage Race, which I made last year. It's got like an option for the Race. You know, another potential thing, look into it and let us know. I made it last year and I didn't realize it was...

Gerard (44:03): Yeah.

Lu (44:04): Yeah, so that was supposed to be the annual event, but we'll see. There's also, by the way, there's also this thing called the Savage Race, which I ran last year. It's kind of like an obstacle course race. You know, another potential thing, look into it and let us know. It's pretty, I ran it last year and I didn't realize how much fun it would be until I'm there and I'm like, wow, this is great.

Gerard (44:28): you

Lu (44:29): So I, it just kind of, I tapped into a new, space within, within my life that I didn't know existed. Like the whole like American Ninja warrior type stuff. Savage races. It's kind of like a Spartan race, but it has, it's less mud and then more actual, like, kind of like monkey bar type stuff. So it's a little bit more complete, less like, you're going through a bunch of mud kind of stuff.

Kevin Perkins (44:41): Okay, okay, I'll look into it you said savage race, okay Okay Okay

Lu (44:59): I think it's a little bit more tactical, technical, whatever the word is, but it was pretty fun, man. You just need a little bit of upper body strength and then you're fine. It's nothing like you're not climbing up some crazy flight of stairs or whatever, to the what is it, the pull-up bar that you have to clank onto the things. It's nothing like that. I would call it monkey bars.

Gerard (45:24): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (45:25): Okay.

Lu (45:28): Yeah, but it's fun. I ran it with my coworker. He's like 42, and then we had a ton of fun.

Gerard (45:29): you

Lu (45:39): now shifting again, shifting gears. I know that, when we met, you mentioned that you're sponsored by on running for tennis and running. How did, how did that partnership with on come about?

Kevin Perkins (45:40): Now shifting gears, I know that we met at your concert by On Running Tennis and Running. How did that partnership come about? Yeah, as an ambassador for On for the 2025 year, I met the

Gerard (46:50): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (47:08): you know, heard of the company was actually because of was because of tennis, not, you know, not not running. think some years ago, I remember seeing, you know, a lot of on shoes around, but I didn't know it was called on. You know, honestly, I thought it was like QC is what I was seeing. you know, I literally I literally went on Google because I seen so many shoes and this was like maybe twenty eighteen and I was like QC shoe brand. And then I saw that it was on. I was like, oh, man, like

Gerard (47:09): Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lu (47:10): Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (47:12): Right.

Gerard (47:19): Yeah. It does look like that.

Gerard (47:31): Yeah. That's great. I love that.

Kevin Perkins (47:37): I had no idea. I literally had no idea. But yeah, it was really cool to be with ON and just be able to represent such a good brand and go to all the running activations that we have. But then they even sent me to the US Open this past year. And that was probably my highlight for sure.

Gerard (47:40): Yeah. that's amazing.

Gerard (47:56): Wow.

Gerard (48:00): it's got to be. Yeah, that's incredible. Like, how does that all overlap with, you know, your run club and other things that you do? Like, are they helping promote, like, Deuce or, like, is there any collaboration or crossover there?

Kevin Perkins (48:13): Yeah, so with the Run Club, they'll, you know, we'll come out and, you know, have some activations, just bringing out like some demo shoes for, you know, the Run Club to try. And that's kind of one thing I really love about like, I guess the running scene is, you know, you have these brands that are, you know, wanting to come out to your Run Club and, you know, bring demos for people to try, which I think is such a, you know, a dope experience because it's different than just going to the store and trying on a shoe. I'm like, yeah, these feel good. But it's like,

Gerard (48:21): Okay. Yeah.

Gerard (48:33): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (48:41): Right.

Kevin Perkins (48:42): damn, you're like letting me actually run in these, you know, to see if I like them. And I think that's just such a game changer. And then, you know, as far as tennis goes, like, you know, on was able to, you know, provide a lot of giveaways and stuff like that, which I know Lou was, Lou was happy about with one of those. But yeah, like that was, you know, for me, I think that was from the tennis side of things.

Gerard (48:45): Yeah.

Lu (49:00): I was definitely the beneficiary of a lot of those things.

Kevin Perkins (49:10): That was something that I had really hoped to do with on was, you know, putting on an event, you know, for tennis, you know, for the city. Um, cause like I said, there's so much like running activations and stuff in the city, but not a whole lot. haven't seen with tennis and, know, as far as like just seeing some of the other like tennis, like on ambassadors, the stuff that they were able to do and their respective cities. Um, like I think there's, you know, a guy in Miami and then two out in California.

Gerard (49:18): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (49:40): And just seeing the great stuff that they did with the brand, was like, hmm, I wonder if I can try to cook something up and get that going. fortunately, I was able to do that with, also have my brand Deuce and partner with NetGains for the event that we had. So I'm really thankful for that.

Gerard (49:46): Yeah.

Gerard (49:55): Mm-hmm.

Lu (50:10): He never misses, G never misses a beat bro.

Kevin Perkins (50:13): Yeah.

Gerard (50:16): What was the US Open experience like?

Kevin Perkins (50:19): man, that was honestly so cool. They definitely took care of us when we were up there. But we would kind of go to public courts all throughout New York. They had this really dope on ice cream truck almost looking thing. And they would have a guy named Vincentay, he would be in there and stringing rackets and measuring the weight of people's rackets.

Gerard (51:16): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (51:31): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (51:38): Thank you.

Kevin Perkins (51:45): you know, picking their brain, their tennis backgrounds and stuff like that. And then being able to visit all the on like flagship stores and stuff around the city. And then our big event was with Ben Shelton. And that was, yeah, that was really dope too. So, and he also like, yeah, he loved the hat that I had on, the deuce hat and was able to give him a hat too. So, Ben, if you're somehow watching this, man, I'm looking forward to you putting that hat on. So.

Gerard (51:58): Nice.

Gerard (52:04): really? that's cool. snap.

Lu (52:13): Hahaha!

Kevin Perkins (52:15): Shameless plug for sure, but come on man. Yeah, you know, yeah. Little presser or something, yeah.

Gerard (52:16): yeah, exactly. even a practice set or something. Just throw it on there. The clip. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, mean, obviously, yeah. I was Ben Shelton. You got Igor Shvanteck, like Flavio Caboli, Jao Fonseca, some of the big tennis stars that we know represented by on. So it sounds like you've had Ben. Have you crossed over with Igor or Flavio or anybody else?

Lu (52:21): Yeah, dude.

Kevin Perkins (52:40): We saw Flavio there, like in a practice session and stuff. And then Fonseca as well. Didn't see Iga. But yeah, just like I said, even just, you know, those people, it's like these are, you know, up and coming stars already. And with the brand being so new, I feel like it's just, you know, fresh like flavors and stuff that the brand is trying to do and really trying to make a good imprint, you know, on the game and just bring that excitement. And I think that's definitely something, you know, that

Gerard (52:55): Yeah.

Gerard (53:00): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (53:10): you know, the men's side bring and then Ega is already, you know, multi grand slam champion. So I think it's just a good look for the brand overall already.

Gerard (53:14): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (53:18): Yeah, no for sure. I feel like they always come up with pretty cool kits too. Like we had our friend Sarah Christopher on the pod one time to kind of talk through the US Open kits and like, I like Ahn always delivers something pretty fresh and cool. And I think especially it was like Ben, like the tanks I feel like he wears are pretty, are cut pretty nice. They always have some kind of cool design on them. So I'm a big fan of what they're bringing out.

Lu (53:38): Yeah, they brought out a pretty nice kit for the AUSSEA OPEN. It was nice.

Kevin Perkins (53:38): Yeah, first...

Kevin Perkins (53:43): Yeah, they definitely have, I think they're definitely onto something, man. And I think they just keep picking up steam with a lot of collabs too. I saw like a recent post on like hype beast or whatever that they just, you know, they keep just kind of climbing and keep elevating. And, you know, it's really exciting to see what, the brand is going to end up doing. And, know, obviously with Roger backing the brand, like, Hey man, know the maestro stays cooking something up. So

Gerard (53:54): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (54:05): Yeah. It really does.

Lu (54:08): Yeah, no, it's it feels like they're a little bit more agile and dynamic and then like approaching the, the let's just say the tennis brand that the running scene from like a more gorilla marketing kind of place, right? Where they're not your Nike, they're not your Adidas. Like they can move a little bit faster, do things a little bit differently. kind of like what you mentioned, like something like that showing people like, Hey,

Kevin Perkins (54:19): same as brand.

Lu (54:38): test drive these shoes instead of like just trying them on the store. This is why, you know, we're the brand. I'm big on that. Now, you clearly care deeply about obviously health, community. Tell us a little bit about why you combine the two.

Kevin Perkins (54:50): You clearly care deeply about obviously health and community. Tell us a little bit about why you can buy a material.

Lu (55:01): tennis running in community, not from a health and fitness perspective.

Kevin Perkins (55:04): Oh. I think they for me, they kind of just go hand in hand with like my daily life. You know what I mean? So and like I've done things alone before. And while I'm, you know, can be independent, I think it's also more fun having community and like minded people. So to be able to mesh, you know, the two like.

Lu (55:15): Mm.

Kevin Perkins (55:30): Tennis, mean, yeah, I can go to a wall, but it's also nice if I can share court with you guys too. And we just hit that way. Cause it's easy for us just to be able to catch up on our day or whatever's been going on while we hit and talk. And then same thing in running, I've noticed it's like, even though we're going for a run, like if we're going at a zone too easy run, we can catch up about our day or a week. And I think it's big on community just cause I think life is already tough as is.

Gerard (56:00): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (56:14): That's a perfect sound by right there. I was just like, yes, that hits me. I do feel like that's one thing I've always loved about tennis. There is this individual nature to it. When you're playing a singles match, just start you versus your opponent. You're not necessarily out there to make friends. You're kind of competing and trying to win on your own. And you don't really have a team behind you, that sort of thing, oftentimes. And so I think.

Lu (56:15): Deep. Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (56:30): soon.

Kevin Perkins (56:34): and you don't really have a team behind you, that sort of thing. So I think it's nice.

Gerard (56:40): in the adult leagues where there's doubles and like there's like this team dynamic and you just hit around with people and like just make it more fun and build that community. Like I think that's where the sport becomes really unique because again, you do have that if you want to go out there and do your own thing and be individual, you can do that. But then you have this built in community that you can play with and grow with and have fun with. And that makes it all the more special.

Kevin Perkins (56:41): Yeah, I agree thousand percent

Lu (57:08): Yeah, what role does mental health play with like this philosophy of integrating like community and in fitness?

Kevin Perkins (57:09): What role does mental health play in this process of integrating into your continuous? I think, oh man, that's good, that's good. I think it's everything for me. Like I think the reason why also, you know, that I got into running, not just for, you know, like physical, you know, health benefits, but just for me, it was always a place where I could kind of escape and, you know, mentally just kind of, you know, gather my thoughts, gather myself.

Kevin Perkins (59:36): You also need to practice, you know, being mentally strong and being, you know, being uncomfortable in pressure and pressure situations. I was like, it's entirely different once you start playing points, you know, but you also need to be in a position to where you practice that too. And that's what I was trying to remind him was when you get to these tie break, when we play these tie breakers or practice sets, whatever it is, that's, that's a whole situation in of, in and of itself that you need to be able to learn how to.

Lu (59:40): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (01:00:04): you know, to work through, you know, mentally. But I said, hey, you know, don't beat yourself up too much. Like you already got a lot going on with school and you know, this and this. So just let's try to take the positives from the day and view it that way. And then on the other end with running, same thing. I tell people like, hey, you're not going to PR every single run. You know what I mean? Like some, some runs, some days you like, you're going to run better than the way you felt. And some days you think you feel great and then you go out and you're like, man, I, okay, that,

Gerard (01:00:23): Mm-hmm.

Lu (01:00:33): Right.

Kevin Perkins (01:00:33): you that run sucked, you know, and it is what it is. But I think, you know, mentally, if you can just kind of find a way to balance and control those emotions, like as best as you can, but realize like, Hey, you know what? At the end of the day, I did something positive for myself, right? Like I went out on the court and hit for an hour. I went for a 30 minute jog or whatever it is, you you moved, you did something to kind of, better yourself. We got to view, we have to take that as a small win.

Lu (01:01:07): Dang. Yeah, that was, that was a lot, but that was exactly where we were wanting to take this conversation, right? Cause you know, I've always, I always ask like, what's the, what's the purpose behind putting in these hours, putting in the work, like from your perspective, like how do you see tennis and running contributing to overall wellness for your community, not just like physical fitness.

Kevin Perkins (01:01:16): I've always asked what's purpose behind putting in these hours, putting in the work. From your perspective, how do you see tennis and running community contributing to overall wellness for your community, not just physical fitness? Yeah, think it was just some of those things that I mentioned. When people want to go out for a hit, especially if you're not playing a match, it's probably because you enjoy doing it.

Lu (01:01:46): Mm-hmm.

Kevin Perkins (01:02:14): you know, you know, positive, you know, vibe from it, just being able to, you know, exercise freely and without the pressures of, man, like I gotta, you know, I gotta compete against you because I gotta make ends meet, you know? And then same for running, right? It's just like, hey, we go out for a run after this, I'm not racing against anybody, you know? That run is just...

Gerard (01:02:29): Mm-hmm.

Lu (01:02:30): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (01:02:40): For us, we have a goal. Hey, this is what we say we're gonna do. All right, let's do the best that we can today and let's get it done. And then let's keep the day moving, you know?

Lu (01:02:50): Yeah, that, brings me back a lot to, this shift. It's a mindset shift. You know, I have to play tennis this morning. I have to run this morning to, get to play tennis this morning. I get to run, right? I have the ability to move my feet, to stand on my two legs on, you know, being able to just run with these people, to see folks, to have an extra day of, life and time that is so valuable in this life.

Kevin Perkins (01:03:36): Thanks for having me.

Lu (01:04:42): Right. Right.

Kevin Perkins (01:05:08): He's so hard on himself because he cares, right? Because he wants to improve. He has goals. Like I think as long as you have like some kind of goal or something that you're working towards, I think that is enough for me to keep coaching you, right? Or to keep showing up because it's like, as long as you have that, I'm gonna do my best to like, to try to put you in the position to succeed and to help you achieve your goal, you know? And I think the...

Lu (01:05:35): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (01:05:36): The text message that his parents had sent me other day was really sweet and really thoughtful. And that was just a reminder to me, it's like, okay, this is why I appreciate getting to do what I do. Yeah, so.

Gerard (01:05:49): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (01:05:53): I love that. I love that. Like I said, it's super inspiring seeing what you're building in the community. think Lou and I were talking about this yesterday and just what else is out there for us to build on the tennis side too. And how do we create more events like we did with NetGainz Tennis and what you're doing with the Run Club is just bringing people together. It makes it to your point and your words just worthwhile. We're all in this together in some way. So I love that you're doing this for the community. Thank you for that.

Lu (01:05:54): Great answer.

Kevin Perkins (01:06:23): I appreciate that.

Lu (01:06:25): Yeah, you're inspiring us to think outside the box. So more of that coming. But I think we now go into, G, you want to do this?

Gerard (01:06:35): Yeah, let's do it.

Lu (01:06:36): All right.

Gerard (01:06:39): All right, Kevin, we're going to go into a little bit of a thing we call quick hands. So essentially, got a few seconds to kind of think through your responses for these questions here. We want to kind of just get your first thought, you know? So I'll ask some questions here. Just throw out what you think. So first off, best tennis court in Atlanta. Where are we playing?

Kevin Perkins (01:06:44): Okay.

Kevin Perkins (01:06:53): Okay, okay.

Kevin Perkins (01:07:02): Best tennis court in Atlanta. man, there's this spot. It's above these apartment courts in the city. It's literally one court. I don't know the name. I went there for a photo shoot and I was like, yo, this is crazy. Like it was, yeah, cause it's just one court, but the skyline of Atlanta is right there. Yeah.

Gerard (01:07:14): Gerard (01:07:21.766) That's sick, that's sick, okay. And not too, it wasn't like too crowded or anything like that, was just like, can kinda like roll up there. Save. That's clutch, yeah, don't say the name on this. Text me later when you find out. Exactly, I was like that. All right. That's a good one, that's a good one. All right, so you broke a string. What are you stringing with string-wise? What's the tension and who's stringing the racket for you?

Kevin Perkins (01:07:27): There was no one there. Yeah, there was absolutely no one there. Yeah, yeah, might, yeah, yeah. We're gonna gatekeep this for now. I know exactly where it's at though. I can definitely send you that later.

Lu (01:07:30): Nice.

Lu (01:07:39): Google Maps it

Kevin Perkins (01:07:51): RPM blast, 17 gauge, 58 and then Cali sacks from UTA. Should use string in my rackets.

Gerard (01:07:58): He's, okay, all right, there you go. You got a little pro there. Favorite tennis ball to play with? Like what's your favorite brand?

Kevin Perkins (01:08:06): Gotta go US Open heavy duty.

Gerard (01:08:09): Those are good. Those are solid. are solid. Favorite sport outside of tennis.

Kevin Perkins (01:08:15): to watch or to play?

Gerard (01:08:18): What would you rather watch?

Kevin Perkins (01:08:20): I would rather watch...

Gerard (01:08:29): Okay, like MBA, college, anything.

Kevin Perkins (01:08:29): basketball.

Gerard (01:08:40): I like it. like it. All right. What's the best spot in Atlanta to grab food after a match?

Kevin Perkins (01:08:47): man, I wanted to gatekeep that one too, but. man. Is it El Santo Gallo or something like that? I think over Westside. I think something like that, but they have really good burrito. then, man, Clay's Sports Bar has the best wings in the city.

Gerard (01:08:49): you

Gerard (01:09:06): Nice.

Kevin Perkins (01:09:14): Or I guess outside the city since it's technically in Sandy Springs.

Gerard (01:09:17): I literally just found out about this place from another friend of the pod, Evan. I saw it on his Instagram the other day and I was like, those wings look incredible. I haven't been there. I got to go.

Lu (01:09:20): What?

Kevin Perkins (01:09:22): Huh!

Kevin Perkins (01:09:26): Yeah. Clay's Sports Bar. It's in like, it's off of think Roswell Road and like in Sandy Springs.

Lu (01:09:27): Wait, what's the place again?

Lu (01:09:36): dude, I'm probably within a 10 minute drive, say less.

Kevin Perkins (01:09:39): the

Gerard (01:09:39): Oh wow. We got our next meet up. All right. What flavor wings are you going? We got to dig into this more.

Kevin Perkins (01:09:44): lemon pepper hot. I mean, come on, man. I mean, it was, yeah, it was only right. There was only one answer.

Gerard (01:09:47): OK, ATL Boy. All right, we're good. good. Set you up for that one. right. right. I love it. I love it. All right. And lastly, what's one piece of advice that you give for someone who's trying to break into the Atlanta tennis community?

Kevin Perkins (01:10:03): just come out, man. Honestly, like come out, you know, find a group of people and, know, kind of just obviously like, you know, introduce yourself, but just come out. I think the community is so welcoming, you know, haven't really had any bad experiences of, you know, like not feeling welcomed, I would say, just come out and see where you, you know, where you can get plugged in and just, you know, start hitting with folks. And then if you want to, you know, play at a higher level and

Gerard (01:10:34): I love it. You crushed it. You got some good hands.

Kevin Perkins (01:10:38): Alright.

Lu (01:10:38): Yeah dude. Good hands there. Good Rex too. We got to we got to try some of these places that. Yeah keep it keep it on the list for our post tennis you know.

Gerard (01:10:44): Honestly, I know we got some meetups already.

Kevin Perkins (01:10:47): Yeah

Lu (01:10:52): Yeah, every time. think we do burgers. That's been the thing that I introduced G to, just do a nice burger after tennis. So you don't feel kind of crappy from having like, yeah, too bad about it. Hey, man, we just played for two hours. Let's have burgers. But I like this idea of finding the ultimate post-match or post-tennis session grub. I like that. Yeah, pretty much.

Gerard (01:10:52): Exactly.

Kevin Perkins (01:11:02): Too bad, yeah, yeah,

Gerard (01:11:03): You

Gerard (01:11:15): Yeah, yeah, it's like a little treat yourself moment, but you

Kevin Perkins (01:11:15): Yeah.

Kevin Perkins (01:11:20): yeah. Thank you guys for having me, man. I really, that was fun. I appreciate it.

Lu (01:11:25): Yeah, we're going to get to the outro real quick. So Kevin, we're going to give you the floor for one whole minute. Where can people find you? What are you working on right now? What's coming up next? And any message you want to leave the Spin the Racket audience with.

Gerard (01:11:25): Of course.

Kevin Perkins (01:11:41): Yeah, so you can find me personally at Kevotano, K-E-V-O-T-A-N-O or the brand at dus.tennis. And current stuff working on, yeah, trying to work on next event with Marcus and NetGains and then possibly be out in Dallas with Coach Jamel of Madison Ace Sports. Cooking up some more stuff for Deuce, so stay tuned there. And then...

Gerard (01:12:19): Mm-hmm.

Lu (01:12:24): All right.

Gerard (01:12:47): There you go.

Gerard (01:12:55): But MG, keep on spinning.